Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Down Under - Men @ Work

The main contrast in the weather today from previous days was the sky, completely covered by dark and threatening looking clouds but otherwise the wind remained in the NE quarter still making for a chill. Deciding to 'lash out' on a bus fare and heading directly to Portland, there were two minor happenings of note as a Common Tern flew over the cemetery, 'calling' loudly, while on Westham Bridge (partly build up area) a Lesser Whitethroat was 'reeling' from within a small isolated bush.

The walk through both Barleycrates & Reap Lanes, along the West Cliff across the Slopes and onward to the Bill passed without result, the full list reading just 5 Common Whitethroat, 3 Stonechat, 5 Wheatear plus a single Swallow. It seemed as if the day was to be more about what was ON the sea rather than what was flying over it as the

The military were also represented by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Small Tanker 'Gold Rover' which I though had been decommissioned years ago. I say that because the last time I saw her was in Simons Town, South Africa about 8 years ago, and even then she looked a little worn out.

Also out there was HMS Ocean, described as a Landing Platform, Helicopter (LPH) the 'sixth' Royal Naval vessel to bare the name. Hoping not to be to disparaging, her ungainly proportions make her look more like a British Rail Platform!

As I walked across the Common towards the Observatory, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were settled right up until the moment I raised the camera when 2 of them took to the wing. At the Obs there were a number of trainee bird 'ringers' taking advantage of the trickle of migrants, and after processing allowed me to take the following shots.

Lesser Whitethroat

and although these two look quite different they are in fact the same species Willow Warbler from different regions. The 'greyer' individual would be from a more Northern European ancestry, while the more yellow one, which we are more used to, hails from the south.

This male Common Redstart was the one shown via these pages last week, here again for comparison to a

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About Me

Born Beeston, Notts 1946, my family moved to Dorset 1959. Joined the Royal Navy age 15 years and 50 days serving 10 years. In frigates firstly then over 5 years in Submarines as a Seaman/Diver, reaching the dizzy heights of Leading Seaman before leaving to join the Merchant Service, working in Ocean Salvage and Harbour Tugs, passenger / cargo ships, trials vessels, etc. Qualified as Mate (Chief Officer) in 1976 and as Master (Captain) in 1978. For my final 20 years of 47 I worked in the Offshore Oil Industry initially on the drilling rig Stena Hunter, then the accommodation barge Borgland Dolphin and finally the Floating Production Platform Buchan Alpha. On the rigs I forged a number of long lasting friendships several of whom shared some of my extensive travels. Setting foot on Caymen, Bermuda, Bahamas and The Azores in March 2013 brought my countries total to 147. The best, undoubtedly, was Antarctica, followed by Australia, Mongolia, Belize, Zimbabwe, China and Madagascar, in no particular order. As for my greatest achievement in life, my 2 beautiful daughters bear witness to that. Love to all our readers, your in my thoughts. Bagsy